RockTown (Fictional TV Series)
RockTown is a book series made for children ages 8-12 and teenagers age 13-19. The series gained broad popularity in the United States in the 1990's as a result of widespread franchising in television. History In 1985, an artist in Canada wanted to make a book series for older children and teenagers. His name was Alfred Jackson. He then made 5 characters, a bear, a rhino, a hyena, a tiger, and a leopard. He named them Jack, Billy, Jaxson, Mark, and Kimberly. He sold the book series via McLelland & Stewart. The book became so successful Alfred started up a company to sell the books outside of Canada. In 1990, DuMont Productions acquired a license to give stations the rights to make their RockTown show and hire their own Jack, Billy, Jaxson, Mark, and Kimberly (now nicknamed Kimber) characters, starting with WEJW, who had also made DuMont's first local production of Svengoolie. The costumes for Jack, Billy, Jaxson, Mark, and Kimberly/Kimber were made through the Landmark Entertainment Group. This firm creates theme parks and attractions, live entertainment productions, and virtual reality. The fur on the characters were made of yak hair, which was superglued to a hard plastic shell around an animatronic head with see-through eyes and eyelids. The fur was first styled, formed, then sprayed with a heavy coat of lacquer to keep its form. The costumes were tested by the performers at WPCP (who's local version was syndicated for markets that could not afford to make a RockTown show) and then shipped off (or in WPCP's case left at the studio for usage in their RockTown show). From time to time, the costume needed refurbishing and was sent to the Pasadena factory for a quick refurbishing. The heads would strap onto the actor's head, making the costumes near impossible to decapitate. Syndicated Format and Local Format Syndication The local version at WPCP in Pacifico, California is also used for syndication by DuMont. It currently stars Samuel Maboob as Jack, William Evans as Billy, Fern Worrell as Jaxson, Mark December as Mark, and Shirley DeVanna as Kimber. The group plays music and covers of (mostly 70's and 80's) rock for the audience, engage in skits, and tell jokes for the audience. Massachusetts Television UMA-TV, the PBS network in Massachusetts, held the RockTown license for the state, and created their own RockTown show. This version starred Jake Anderson as Jack, Michael Harrison as Billy, the father son team of Pat and Steve McGonigle as Jaxson and Mark, and Alicyn Packard as Kimber. The voices of the characters were provided by Pat and Steve McGonigle and Alicyn Packard, with Alfred Jackson (the original creator of the characters) and Tina McStevens doing the singing voices of the characters. Funding for this version was provided by McDonald's Restaurants of Massachusetts, Inc., Sal's Pizza, Cal-Maine, and "Viewers Like You" Harrisburg Television WDOSP aired a locally-produced version, filmed at the studios of PBS member station WGKX, with WDOSP and WGKX employees doing the suit acting, and local musicians Dave Anderson, Mark DeLeeuw, Tammy Herbert, Tommy Withers, and Amanda Jones doing the voices of Jack, Billy, Jaxson, Mark, and Kimber. Dave, Mark, Tammy, Tommy, and Amanda also did the suit acting (and voicing) for when the RockTown characters appeared at the Bozo's Pizza Circus FEC's locations alongside the characters of The Bozo Show. Category:Television programmes in the United States Category:Franchises